Lightheaded
by RascalKat
Summary: 2k14 'verse! "If only he'd trained a little harder or eaten an extra slice of pizza now and then... Maybe he wouldn't be in this mess..." My headcanon for the turtles' imprisonment, focusing on Donnie.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N __Hey, y'all! So this is my first foray into the TMNT fanfiction community (writing-wise, I've been reading for a few months now). Hopefully I did it justice? Anyway, this is my headcanon for what happened when Shredder captured the turtles during the 2014 movie. Hehe, Donnie's my favorite, and Lord knows I love hurting my favorites. I only got to see the movie once due to my lack of money and time (ie my job... and school), so hopefully I didn't screw too much up. If anyone would like to give me a good summary of what happened after the rolling down the snowy mountain scene, I'd love to hear it, because my memory is AW-FUL._

_Quick note: Any facts or figures that were used to create this story are from the internet, and as such, they may or may not be correct. Also, I estimated the turtles' blood volume based on their estimated weight along with some information on sea turtles. Yeah, I know, they aren't sea turtles, but I did my best with the info I had!_

_As for how the idea of this came about... I was watching a video and I realized how much skinnier Donnie is compared to his brothers, and as I watched more of the video (namely the part where April is asking Donnie what she should do, pounding on the glass and stuff) I noticed that he seemed to be having a much rougher time staying awake. And my imagination took me on a a thrillingly angsty joyride! WOOHOO!_

_Now, on with the show?_

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**Lightheaded: Chapter 1**

He should have eaten more… Or trained more, or… something… Anything to make him a little less scrawny.

_Not scrawny… svelte…_ He didn't have the energy to laugh at his own private rebuttal. Not that he would have laughed if he'd been able to. Somehow it didn't seem appropriate right now.

After all, he was getting the blood drained out of him alongside two of his brothers, while the rest of his family remained unaccounted for, likely dead. Definitely not the best time to be laughing.

But the fact remained that, of the three turtles Shredder had captured (actually, if he were to be accurate, of _all_ the turtles), he himself was probably the lightest once the tech gear came off. Even Mikey weighed more than he did due to muscle mass and fat from all the pizza, regardless of Donnie's superior height.

He closed his eyes for a second, trying not to let them stay closed for too long. Being the lightest didn't bode well for him when they were all being drained at about the same rate.

He tried to keep himself awake by factoring what percentage of their blood volume each of them had lost. He himself probably had about 7 liters to give while Mikey might have 7.7 and Leo, maybe 7.9. So there seemed to be about 8 liters that had already been drained, if his spacial reasoning skills were anything to go by…

That meant he'd lost about 38.10 percent of his blood volume… His brothers? 34.63 for Mikey, and 33.76 for Leo… He honestly didn't feel up to calculating anymore decimals.

Donnie's head dipped a little closer to his plastron, but he jerked it back up, reminding himself to apply the numbers he'd come up with rather than just let them float through his neurons without a purpose. Maybe the shock value of his diagnosis would give him the boost he needed to stay awake. Now, what were the parameters for hemorrhages again? The information was just out of reach, right on the tip of his tongue…

Ah, there it was. Class III's were between 30 and 40 percent. So they each had a Class III Hemorrhage, verging on a Class IV, at least for humans. Class IV or V usually meant death, but he wasn't sure how human blood loss compared to their own.

A glance over at his brothers proved that they were faring far better than he was. Mikey was still talking. Much of it was useless nonsense, but that was normal for him. Leo, on the other hand, remained terrifyingly, defiantly silent, but he was still standing tall, supporting his own weight.

Donnie could feel his heart sink into his stomach. He wasn't _that _much lighter, was he? Only by about thirty pounds. Surely the difference couldn't be so marked? Damn it, he should have eaten an extra slice of pizza once in a while, maybe spent a few hours building up muscle mass rather than messing around in his lab. Self-loathing covered him like a stiflingly warm blanket. He was such an idiot…

His eyes slid shut again, and while he floated in the unseeing darkness, he couldn't help but marvel at how strange it felt to literally have the life sucked out of him. He felt like one of those weird blow up mattresses. One that was slowly being compressed for storage. In other words, he felt like absolute crap.

_Worse than having to go for a week without coffee…_ his addled brain interjected. In that second, something clicked. He hadn't had coffee since… Since yesterday morning? Had it really been yesterday? It felt like ages. And coffee contained caffeine, which was a stimulant that normally elevated his blood pressure, and without it…

No wonder he felt awful. Not only did he weigh less than the others, but his blood pressure was lower, too, and a lower blood pressure meant a lower tolerance to blood loss.

At least now he knew why. It wasn't because he was a wimp, and it wasn't because he was the only one lacking the willpower to stay awake. He could scientifically explain why he was about to pass out right now while his brothers were still powering through.

There they were: the cold, hard, and strangely comforting, facts. Suddenly he didn't hate himself quite so much. With that thought, his legs buckled beneath him, the shackles around his wrists digging into his skin like Chinese handcuffs laced with nails.

Arms pulled taut above him, Donnie realized he'd had it a heck of a lot easier five seconds ago. His feet were going numb, but he scrambled to get them back under him anyway. His breathing came in ragged gasps, spraying his already blurring vision with black dots. One foot gained purchase, followed by the other, but his legs refused to bear his weight. He was hanging by his arms alone, and he realized that trying to inhale was just as useless as trying to bust out of his bullet proof glass prison. He couldn't breathe. He was going to suffocate.

Through the static that had built up in his ears, he could hear the monitor on his cage beeping out an insistent rhythm as his vision faded out completely.

* * *

_A/N __So? What do we think? Shall I continue? Or was this a waste of time? Any critiques, typos, etc? Did anyone catch the 2012 series reference? XD_


	2. Chapter 2

_Terribly sorry for the way this chapter got garbled into half computer code. It's fixed! Enjoy! The author's note I had before is gone now, though -_-_

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"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves. I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes"

Leo couldn't help but grin inwardly as Mikey mumbled the words to the most annoying song he knew. Or at least, the second most annoying song. Mikey had a way of turning the much dreaded "Friday" song into a hashi for the ears.

"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves"

He'd been singing the same song just a few weeks ago while he and his brothers skateboarded through one of the bigger pipes in the sewers, right before he refused to go home…

_"Come on Mikey, we're leaving without you!" Leo shouted behind him._

_"You guys wouldn't leave me! What if I get kidnapped!?"_

_Leo scoffed and turned to walk down the tunnel. "Trust me, they'd bring you back."_

He was beginning to wish he'd been right. So far, Mikey had indeed annoyed his captors to no end, but the guards had the added advantage of being allowed to use their stun batons whenever they wanted. And right now, he was wishing Mikey would just shut up so he wouldn't get shocked again.

That didn't mean he wouldn't take the small victory of Mikey getting under their abductors' skin, though. If they were meant to die here, they would die with honor, which was why he stood up as straight as he could and stared forward, determined not to look defeated, even if that's what they were right now.

Leo flexed his fingers, imagining himself kicking all of these dumb Foot Ninjas in the solar plexus or landing a punch to their throats. Especially after they shocked Mikey a few extra times for talking, not to mention how they'd mocked Donnie for wearing glasses while roughly stripping him of his tech.

Speaking of Donnie… Leo took a deep breath, turning his head to watch his other sibling. Donnie hadn't made a sound yet, aside from a few yelps when they'd shocked him. Leo wasn't going to fault him for those, of course. He hadn't been able to stay entirely silent himself.

He examined his brother through the grimy bullet proof glass, noting how pale he was starting to look. They probably all looked pale, now that he thought about it. He turned back to look at Mikey, silently comparing the youngest with the second youngest. Donnie was paler… _way_ paler, and his breathing was starting to come in shallow wheezes that rattled shakily, tentatively, in Leo's ears.

He looked over at Mikey again, his features set in a facade of impenetrable stone. Donnie was starting to suffer, but he didn't want Mikey knowing it yet. There was no use frightening his brother if there was nothing either of them could do about it.

Facing forward again, Leo tried to keep his mind occupied with more positive thoughts. Donnie had trackers built into his gear, regardless of whether they were powered off, and that meant they still had a chance. Raph wasn't stuck in a cage. Maybe he'd gotten away…

Or maybe he was already dead, just like Sensei… Dad… The look in his father's eyes as he had scrambled to cut them off from his fight with the Shredder replayed over and over in Leo's head. His father would do anything to keep them safe, but this time it had all been for nothing.

Leo snuck a glance to his left again, watched as Donnie's head snapped back up from where his chin had been resting against his plastron. '_Atta boy, Donnie, stay awake. You can do it._' He whispered in his head. His brother took a few deep breaths, and Leo found himself wishing he could catch his attention, but Donnie just kept staring forward, then down at the floor as he lost the strength to keep his chin up. In fact, if he didn't know better, Leo would say Donnie was actually avoiding his gaze. He wasn't sure why, though.

He had been wanting to send Donnie a faint smile, a pat on the back that didn't require any physical contact. Despite the circumstances, he was proud. Proud of _both_ of his brothers for being so brave, but he was especially proud of Donnie for willing himself to stay awake this long. For some reason, the blood loss was having a far greater impact on his bespectacled brother, and Leo wished he could tell him how proud he was that Donnie hadn't quit yet.

With a sigh, Leo closed his eyes, pushing himself to stand a little straighter. He took a deep breath, held it, let it out slowly, held it again. They had to get out of here, and soon. Maybe he could _think_ his way out of this…

It wouldn't be worthwhile to pull at his bonds: that would only serve to weaken him further. He had already tried it multiple times earlier, when he had a little more blood and a little more strength in his body. The darn things wouldn't budge, no matter how hard he tugged at them. Maybe if he-

Leo wasn't sure how to describe the sound that derailed his train of thought. A shuffle, a gasp, more shuffling. His eyes were open immediately, drawn towards the sound, and he couldn't keep his mouth from opening in horror.

Donnie had lost his footing and was now scrambling uselessly to get back to his feet. His arms were pulled up and behind him, and Leo could tell how difficult it was to breathe in that position by the panicked gasps that echoed around his cage.

_No. No no no no no no no no. Come on, Donnie, get up. Get up! _But no matter how many times Donnie pulled his feet forward in an attempt to get them under him again, they kept sliding back.

Leo's eyes widened and he gave up on being silent.

"Get up, Donnie!" he whispered, praying he wouldn't draw unwanted attention to his brother's predicament. "Come on, I know you can do it, just keep trying! You're almost there, just get up!"

He shot a glance at Mikey, who was straining to see past him, eyes wide. For once, Mikey was completely silent.

Leo turned back to the brother on his left "Get up, Donnie! Don't you dare quit on me, I know you can do this, get _up_!" Donnie had finally gotten his feet under him, but Leo was fairly certain he couldn't hear the words being spoken to him. He still wasn't standing. "Good, Donnie, just a little farther, come on, you can do it!"

He could see the muscles in his brother's legs quivering, even through the smudged handprints and scratches on the glass. All he had to do was push off against the ground and he would be standing again, but Leo was beginning to doubt whether he had the strength left to do _that_ much, much less stay standing if he did.

"Come _on_, Donnie!" He was pleading, now. The sound of the alarm on Donnie's monitor barely registered in Leo's ears as he watched his brother slump completely, his feet dragging on the floor behind him and his knees a few inches off the ground.

He couldn't help but wonder if he had just witnessed his brother's last conscious moments. He just stood there for a second, eyes glued to his little brother's motionless form. Then the sound of raucous laughter filled the room.

The Foot Ninjas were laughing. At them. At_ Donnie_. Leo saw money change hands, one of the soldiers begrudgingly paying off most of the others, and his vision blurred in a haze of red. They had been placing bets on who would collapse first. And most of them had been betting on Donnie. He wasn't sure what made him angrier: the fact that they had been betting on who would collapse first, the fact that they had been betting _Donnie_ would collapse first, or the fact that they had been right. The injustice of it all bowled any rational thoughts over, and he let out a strangled howl of rage, balling his hands into fists that ached to pound the flesh of their sneering faces.

How dare they?

HOW.

DARE.

THEY.

Another roar of righteous fury and his strength poured back into him, just shy of the force needed to break out of his little _pen_. They would pay for this. If it was the last thing he did, he would make them pay.

"Calm down, you overgrown science fair project. Your… _brother_… isn't finished yet. He cannot escape to oblivion so easily."

Leo scarcely comprehended the words. He _could_, however, comprehend the steel eyed, derisive gaze of the scientist who had just stepped out of the shadows in front of him. The man's mouth twisted into a gleeful smile, eyes narrowed like a cat who has just sighted a mouse. Leo glared back, refusing to break eye contact with the_ monster_ of a human being in front of him. Sacks.

"Subject Omega requires a dose of adrenaline." He informed one of the scientists standing next to him. The scientist stepped forward, tapping the monitor on Donnie's cage a few times.

Leo narrowed his eyes, nostrils flaring with rage at the idea that they had labeled Donnie "subject Omega." He didn't have time to think about it though, as he turned his gaze on his unconscious brother, hoping that things weren't about to get worse.

Donnie's arms flexed, elbows bending shakily. Leo watched in one part horror and one part relief as his brother's head lifted up, eyes open. Barely. Donnie's right foot moved forward and planted solidly underneath him, followed immediately by the left. A moment later, he was standing again.

Part of him was glad that Donnie was standing again. Sacks had bought them more time to escape, more time to be rescued if there was anyone left to rescue them. In the same moment, the realization hit Leo in the gut like one of Raph's roundhouse kicks.

These scientists were going to drain him and his brothers of their blood. And they were prepared to keep their subjects awake for the entire thing.


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey there lovely readers! Welcome back to another chapter of Lightheaded :). Sorry it took a little longer than last time, I had some trouble with this one. Many of you asked for Mikey's POV, and let me tell you, Mikey is HARD to write. At least for me. He's my polar opposite, so that's usually always a challenge. I went with the "flashback" method because I was so at a loss of what to write, and normally I absolutely loathe writing flashback scenes, they just seem so cliche. Honestly, though I didn't have much of a choice for this chapter. Hopefully it's not too strained?_

_I'll let you get on with the story ;)_

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**Lightheaded: Chapter 3**

Mikey was done singing annoying songs. His brother had just passed out, suspended only from the shackles around his wrists, and Mikey had no idea _why_.

It was moments like these that he understood why Donnie spent so much time researching random topics on the computer. Sure, if he'd known what was wrong, he would probably still be worried, but not knowing was almost worse, because, even if they _did_ break out of here, he didn't know how to fix it. He wasn't used to fixing things, that was Donnie's department. What were they supposed to do if Donnie wasn't there to talk them through it? He wasn't a leader, he was a follower. Well, not a follower, really, he goofed off too much for that, but he didn't want to be in charge of anything, especially not someone's life!

Right now, the only explanation he could come up with was that Donnie had been hurt worse than he or Leo when they got here... But he'd seemed fine, or at least as fine as he could be for getting hit with those stupid stun sticks every two seconds. It didn't make any sense, and Mikey knew he wasn't prepared to face this particular challenge.

It reminded him of a time he'd been in a similar situation, completely stumped on what to do next. He and Donnie had been playing in the sewers by themselves one day, Raph and Leo having both gotten grounded for fighting each other.

They'd been having a blast, riding on Mikey's skateboard, when Mikey had gotten a stupid idea. Really, he'd thought it was a good idea at the time, but in all reality, it was stupid. WAY stupid.

* * *

_Tears rolled down Mikey's face as he called out to his brother again, hoping for an answer this time. There wasn't one. He tried not to wince as he replayed the sickening thud of what he could only assume was his brother's skull smacking into the concrete._

_Why had he been so stupid?! Donnie had warned him it was a bad idea, but Mikey had insisted, and now his brother was dead for all he knew!_

_Mikey's breath hitched in his throat, and he tried to steady it like Sensei had taught him, but there was no stopping the tidal wave of dread that loomed overhead. He wanted his daddy, but he couldn't remember how to get back to the lair because he hadn't quite learned the layout for this area yet._

_He tentatively put a hand on the cool metal of the tunnel Donnie had fallen down a minute ago. It was darker than he'd thought, but he had to be brave, had to be brave for Donnie. He scooted down the pipe carefully on his butt, not trusting himself to stand up on such a slanted surface._

_His eyes widened when they landed on Donnie, slumped against a grate that marked the end of the tunnel. It had been a dead end, at least for giant talking turtles like themselves. Mikey was actually kind of thankful that there was a grate in the way; otherwise it would have been another 20 foot drop onto solid concrete._

_"Donnie?" he shook his brother, hoping for a reaction, but Donnie's head was down, his body completely limp._

_Mikey gasped when he noticed the blood seeping down his brother's forehead. That was a lot of blood. Sensei had mentioned before that head wounds bled a lot, but he didn't think they were supposed to bleed this much._

_"Donnie, please wake up! I don't… I don't know what to do!" he whispered. It was true. He had no idea how to pull Donnie out of this tunnel by himself: it was too steep. Maybe if he got some rope…_

_Stupid. Why would there be rope just lying around in the sewers?_

_"Donnie, come on, this isn't funny anymore. I'm… I'm sorry, okay! I didn't mean to…" he sniffed, pausing for a moment to wipe some of the snot from his nose. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I just thought it would be f-fun. Please just w-wake up now! I promise, I'll never do anything stupid, or… or touch your 'speriments again, or…"_

_Mikey pulled his older brother's body against his own, boiling tears making his face blotchier than it already was._

_"Daddy, I don't know what to do!" He could hardly see through his tear blurred eyes anymore, and he didn't know why he was talking to someone who wasn't present, but he kept at it. "Donnie's hurt and I don't know how to get him out. Daddy, I need help!"_

_He looked down at his brother's motionless face again, his lip starting to quiver as the tears kept coming._

_"Donatello? Michelangelo! My sons, where have you disappeared to?"_

_Mikey's heart almost stopped in relief at the sound of his father's voice. "Daddy!" he shouted, completely forgetting the other more proper names: sensei, master. "Daddy, we're down here!"_

_"Michelangelo! What happened?"_

_Mikey could hear Splinter's claws scrabbling against their metal surroundings, coming closer._

_"I… I'm sorry, daddy, we were just playing and I bet Donnie I could jump over the hole in the floor on my skateboard, and… and he went first to make sure it was safe, but he fell, and... and now he's hurt and he won't wake up!" He was gasping for air by the end of it, each inhale sounding more and more like a sob._

_Splinter appeared out of the darkness, lifting Donatello from Mikey's arms. Mikey caught sight of his skateboard now that Donnie had been moved, and he couldn't help but snarl at it. His skateboard was perfectly fine. Why couldn't the skateboard have broken and Donnie been fine?_

_"It is all right, my son." Splinter said, raising a hand to rub soothing circles over Mikey's shell. "Your brother probably has a concussion. Everything will be all right. I will be back for you in a moment." With that, he held Donnie close to him and began his ascent back to the main sewer, his tail braced against the opposite wall of the tunnel to give support as he climbed._

_It was another few minutes before Splinter came back down for Mikey, and when he was sitting back on solid, horizontal ground, he saw why. Donnie's head was covered in (mostly) fresh gauze that Splinter had wisely brought with him when he came searching. What caught even more of his attention were Donnie's eyes, which were open, squinting blearily at him. His glasses had fallen off, Mikey realized, and were probably still lying on the grate at the bottom of the tunnel, along with his skateboard._

_Either way, his older brother gave him a lopsided grin. "D-did I make the jump?"_

* * *

Splinter had been there to help him, to fix his mistake that time. The pure sense of elation when he'd heard Splinter's voice was a level of joy he had never felt before, and most certainly had not felt since. But Splinter wasn't coming to save them this time, and right now, Donnie was paying the price.

That simple fact was enough to completely extinguish whatever hope he'd had left. Splinter and Raph weren't coming, were probably both dead. There was absolutely nothing he could do to help Donnie. There was nothing _Leo_ could do to help Donnie either. They were at the hands of a mad scientist (he was _so_ not in the mood to be chuckling at the 'mad scientist' part, so not in the mood to imagine Sacks with some crazy wig) and that mad scientist wouldn't hesitate to kill them all.

The weight of his reality came crashing down around him like an avalanche. Optimism had always been his best defense against the harsh and often deliberately cruel world around him, and without it, he could feel himself start to crumble.

_Get up Donnie… Get up, please, please be okay. You've gotta be okay, please, just get up. _

That was about the time Leo started saying the same thing out loud. Mikey could hear the fear in his voice, fear that didn't, would _never,_ belong there. And then Leo started begging.

Mikey's head swirled as he watched his "Fearless Leader" succumb to his distress, beg and plead for his brother to get up. Leo didn't beg, either. He commanded. Maybe that's what scared Mikey the most. His fearless, commanding brother had been brought to… _this_. He almost didn't recognize the turtle behind the blue mask. Mikey didn't blame him for it, but somehow, seeing his brother's reaction made the situation all the more real. And if _Leo_ had a reason to be afraid… Mikey realized _he_ had every reason to be downright terrified.

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_**Quick question,** guys. Would you like me to include everything from this moment onward (everything directly involving the turtles, that is) to the end of the movie, or would you prefer I focus on the more "interesting scenes"? Is there a particular scene you want me to write from one of the turtle's POV's? I've got a scene planned from (almost) the end of the movie, but I was wondering if you guys wanted more. Some of the scenes don't fit with the theme of this story, and I'll probably skate over those, but some of them _do_ fit. _

_And thank you so much to all my lovely reviewers, you guys are absolutely amazing! All those tantalizingly long reviews have spoiled me over the past (almost) week, and I can't thank you enough for your support!_

_Also, if you notice a typo, please don't hesitate to tell me! I like my stories to be as error-free as possible XD_

_**P.S (I promise this is the last thing)** Did I do Mikey justice? Did I do Mikey's point of view in this scene justice? _


	4. Chapter 4

_So I'm not all that sure about this chapter... I wrote it pretty quickly, so I don't know how good it is, but I want to make it up to you guys for taking so long earlier. (Hah, ironic, considering the readers from another story of mine have been waiting more than a year for the next chapter... Woops...) Anyway... _

_MsMuffetsTuffet mentioned that it would be a good idea to show their rescue from all three of the POV's of the captives. Honestly, I can't think of how to write Mikey's so **I'll need some help with that** if anyone is willing to give it. _

_I've got a some ideas for Leo, but it won't be quite as long as Donnie's, I don't think._

_And beyond that, much of this will be Donnie's POV, unless you guys ask for something different. _

_P.S. You guys have no idea how hard it was to stay in the right tense for this chapter. Normally that's not an issue for me, but the story just kept proclaiming itself to me in present tense, and it took a lot longer to work it into past tense like the rest of the story. _

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**Lightheaded: Chapter 4**

He was going to puke. It wasn't a pretty thought, but it was the first thought he'd had after regaining consciousness, and he hadn't been expecting that opportunity, so he counted it as a victory. He strained to pull himself back to his feet, and this time, he was far more successful.

His eyes opened halfway as he took in deep, satisfying lungfuls of air, noticing the assistant in the lab coat and goggles standing in front of his cage, looking at the screen that probably revealed his vitals. Normally he would have taken one glance at her face and pulled up her general heritage based on her appearance, but his vision was too blurry, and the only qualitative data he could muster was 'dark hair,' 'white teeth,' 'young.' Too young. She was probably just an intern for Sack's company, maybe only a few years older than himself, and had gotten too deeply entrenched in Sack's plans.

As Donnie's vision got a little clearer, he realized that she almost looked… remorseful? Whatever it was, it was gone in an instant, and her expression morphed into one of alarm as she realized that Donnie was staring at her. She was afraid. Of him.

He closed his eyes and focused on breathing, feeling the warmth of whatever blood remained in him rushing to his face and his shoulders. Of _course_ she was afraid of him. Had he been expecting anything less?

He pushed her to the back of his thoughts, almost wishing he could return to the oblivion he had been enjoying. But no, they'd injected adrenaline into his system, and he was going to stay awake. For now. He could tell that it was adrenaline. Why else would he be able to feel his heart pounding out the beat for a mariachi band in his chest? He was fairly familiar with it. He was a ninja, after all.

Even though his body was awake, his mind was getting more and more sluggish, which honestly didn't make much sense. Wasn't… Wasn't adrenaline supposed to increase brain activity? Maybe he just hadn't had enough…

Donnie looked around a bit, eyes widening when they met Leo's piercing stare. Oh right… He'd probably just scared his remaining family half to death. Actually, make that three fourths to death: he had never seen his brother look so scared in his life. His stomach twinged again at the thought of being the reason for the horror so apparent in his brother's expression.

Leo let out a breath, and Donnie figured he'd been holding it for a while. They had grown up together, and Donnie could read Leo's facial expression as well as he could read a master's level physics textbook, which happened to be quite well. The eye ridges drawn together, the almost dull gleam in Leo's eyes, the way his mouth hung slightly open… Without words, Leo was asking if he was all right, asking why he and he alone had collapsed.

Donnie sighed, and shrugged, closed his eyes again, took a breath. He looked back at Leo pointed to himself as well as he could, and curled his right thumb inwards, trying to signal "two".

Leo nodded, and Donnie went on, moving his fingers to make the "this close" signal, which in this case translated instead to the word "small".

'I'm too small.'

From the look on Leo's face, Donnie could tell he understood. And he didn't like it, especially the other three words that Donnie always added to the end of that statement: 'I'm too weak'. His eye ridges furrowed and he shook his head, eager to dislodge the idea from his younger brother's mind, but Donnie knew the facts.

He gave Leo a small, hopeless smile. 'It's okay,' he mouthed. He wasn't sure why he'd chosen those words. It _wasn't_ okay, not by a long shot. This entire situation was not _okay_. But it was as okay as it was going to get for now, and for some reason, he felt a strange sense of peace about that. Maybe the blood loss was finally getting to him.

Speaking of blood loss… His eyes wandered over to the collection of canisters of their blood, realizing that two more had been filled. 10 liters in all. That meant a loss of 47.62 percent for him, 43.29 for Mikey, and 42.19 for Leo.

A Class IV Hemorrhage for each of them, and he himself was close to a Class V. His brothers should be about to pass out right now, if his own reaction was anything to go by, but maybe they'd each had their own little dose of adrenaline while watching him collapse. If they'd been that scared watching what happened to him, it would explain why they were still relatively alert. Or maybe their bodies were restoring the lost blood faster than his was. Either way, he still felt inferior. Weak.

He looked up again, trying to ignore the dizzy spin of the room as he watched both of his brothers' heads droop a little lower. Absently, he wondered if they would have to collapse too before receiving the adrenaline the way he had, or if the lab assistants would provide it before it was absolutely necessary. He was hoping for the latter, but his gut told him the former was a safer bet.

The other question that lingered in his mind was whether his brothers would collapse before _he_ collapsed _again_. He found himself wanting them to, and he mentally slapped himself for it. He found his mind circling the word "collapse," randomly shifting through synonyms of the word. One of those synonyms was "failure". _Hah, failure…_ _Fitting... _

He could feel his older brother staring at him again, probably reading his thoughts. Leo's stare flooded the right side of his face with imaginary warmth, reminding him of the heat lamp Slinter used to use to keep them warm during the winter as kids.

Donnie started to turn his head to return Leo's stare with a blank look of his own when his vision darkened again, electric fingers washing across his sight as the static in his ears came to a second crescendo. For a second, it almost sounds like an alarm to him, but he's started to think that maybe he's hallucinating.

He tried to take a few deep breaths, in through his nose, out through his mouth, and the darkness and static recede. He kept his eyes focused on the ground in front of his cage, so much so that he almost missed it when a dark blur crashed through the door at the far end of the room.

The room tilted dangerously to the side and he struggled to right himself, his stomach doing some convoluted gymnastics routine.

Raph… He could swear he heard Raph's voice but when he was able to focus again, Raph had disappeared somewhere. Or maybe he hadn't really been there at all, he couldn't tell. All he knew was that he wouldn't be able to stay awake much longer.

A few seconds, or maybe it's a few minutes that went by, he couldn't tell, but when he looked up again, all of the scientists were gone and there was this guy with a green backpack looking at him, standing in front of his cage. And just past him was… April O'Neil? He didn't get a chance at a double take because everything blurred beyond recognition again.

He closed his eyes, put all of his effort into making sure he stayed standing this time. He couldn't do this, he just wasn't strong enough, and he was getting so _tired_. Why hadn't they given him more adrenaline already?

For a second, it sounded like there was a thunderstorm brewing in the distance, but he realized it wasn't thunder. There was someone pounding on the glass in front of him, echoing the increasing pounding of his heart.

Maybe Leo would stop pounding on the glass and finally let him sleep if he answered his question… Donnie heaved in another breath and pushed the word "adrenaline" out with what little strength he had left. It came out as mumbled gibberish, and he knew that wouldn't be good enough for Leo, so he dug as deep as he could, lungs nearly bursting, and said it again. "Adrenaline."

Was that even the right answer? Honestly, he couldn't remember the question. His legs felt like sludge, nearly impossible to keep under him, and he closed his eyes as the pounding on the glass started up again. _Go away, Leo, just let me sleep. I just wanna sleep. _

His wrists started to get warmer, the wave of heat rolling down his arms. Distantly, he wondered why that was.

And then it almost felt like someone had taped a rocket to his back as he broke the cuffs on his wrist and shattered the glass of his cage.

* * *

_All righty, there's chapter four! Hope you guys enjoyed it more than I was expecting, personally I don't like the end of it all that much. _

_For the third time, thank you SO much to my reviewers! I don't get a chance to thank all of you personally, especially the anonymous and guest reviewers, but please know that reviews are incredibly helpful! _

_I would specifically like to thank MsMuffetsTuffet for being such a faithful reviewer and for putting so much time into (her?) reviews! :D_


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